fairy lights

fairy lights

English

Etymology

From the small battery-powered incandescent lights, manufactured by the Swan United Electric Light Company, that were worn by fairy characters in Gilbert and Sullivan's opera Iolanthe in its opening season in 1882.[1]

Noun

fairy lights pl (normally plural, singular fairy light)

1. (Britain) Small electric lights on a strand which are used decoratively, especially on Christmas trees.
   • 2010, Trisha Ashley, Twelve Days of Christmas, HarperCollins, →ISBN, unnumbered page:

     I managed to put quite a lot of small baubles on the top of the tree that way and helped drape the long string of fairy lights around it, […]

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:fairy lights.

Synonyms

• Christmas lights

Translations

lights

Kyrgyz: кытай панары (ky) (kıtay panarı)

References

1. http://www.doylycarte.org.uk/operas/iolanthe